USC pushing for gender-neutral bathrooms
70 bathrooms on campus
slated to be converted
Cheryl Stone
News Features Editor
There’s only one in the University
Community Centre, there are another two in Weldon if you know
where to look, and there are only
18 of them on the entire Western
campus.
This is after the University Students’ Council was promised to
eventually see 70 gender-neutral
bathrooms on campus.
According to Marissa Joffre,
vice-president campus issues for
the USC, in 2008 a list of 70 single
stall bathrooms were given to the
vice-president at the time, with the
promise 10 of these would have
signage indicating they were gender-neutral by the end of the year.
Each year after would see 10 more
bathrooms converted.
“If you’re stressed about going
to the washroom, this campus isn’t
accessible,” Joffre explained. She
noted trans people could face violence, or even have to out themselves when using one of the single-gender bathrooms on campus.

“It is commonplace for transgendered individuals to develop
bladder and kidney infections
because they do not feel they are
safe using single-sex washrooms,”
Stephanie Armstrong, director of
gender diversity and awareness
with PrideWestern, explained. She
noted gender-neutral bathrooms
were not just for people who did
not fit the dual-gender norm, but
people who wanted more privacy
or may need to wash before prayer
would also benefit. Joffre noted her
goal was to have the spaces available to whoever wanted to use
them, whether the individual was
out or not.
Armstrong is currently working
with the transgendered community to create an inclusive symbol
to label the new washrooms. Joffre explained by the end of the year
she was hoping to be able to put a
pamphlet in the Support Services
Centre.
As Armstrong explained, providing the gender-neutral space is
half the battle.
“As someone who has tried find-

Photo illustration by Adam Godin Gazette

ing the gender-neutral washrooms
between classes or on break during
class, I know that these are often in
the back corner of a building,” she
said. “If there were more genderneutral washrooms on campus
with better signage, finding and
using these washrooms would be
easier for students and would support inclusivity on campus.”

Joffre admitted part of the stall
on the part of administration may
have been because past vice-presidents had other priorities. “I feel
like someone needs to be pushing
this forward.”
She explained the administration had been receptive to this
issue since she brought it up again,
but she was left to figure out why

the issue had been put on the back
burner by the University.
Armstrong explained the bathrooms were one of many important steps to an inclusive campus.
“I do think it is a step in the
right direction and sets an important precedent for supporting the
diverse community that Western
values so much.”

Southwest Ontario may be getting off track
No current plans for high speed railway to make stop in London
Gloria Dickie
News Features Editor
If a high speed train leaves Toronto at 11 a.m., and is travelling
at a speed of 250 kilometres an
hour, when will it arrive in London? Never, according to a report
released Monday by EcoTrain
consultants.
Canadian officials have been
considering the implementation
of high speed rail along the Quebec
City-Windsor corridor for years,
endorsing several studies on the
subject. However, the most recent
feasibility study left London and
Windsor out of the plan for economic reasons, instead focusing
on construction to the east.
“It’s obviously done by someone in Toronto and they think the
world stops at Toronto,” Bud Polhill, ward one councillor for the
City, said. “This is the fourth busiest rail station in Canada, and yet
we’re not stopping here. It doesn’t
make any sense.”

High speed rail, according to
the recommendations, would connect Toronto to Ottawa, Montreal
and Quebec City with trains travelling at speeds between 200 to 300
kilometres per hour.
“[The study] sends the message
that we don’t deserve to have high
speed rail,” Polhill argued. “And
that’s not the message I want to
send. We want to be part of this.”
High speed rail would have the
ability to cut travel times in half,
making a trip from London to Toronto take as little as 51 minutes.
“I think that in today’s world,
people are expecting faster, more
efficient transportation,” Dianne
Cunningham, director of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy
Management at Ivey who has studied the impact of high speed rail,
observed.
She argued high speed rail gives
people a choice of jobs and where
they want to live, allowing people
to have a better quality of life.
For Polhill, high speed rail would

It’s obviously done by
someone in Toronto
and they think the
world stops at Toronto. This is the fourth
busiest rail station in
Canada, and yet we’re
not stopping here.
It doesn’t make any
sense.
—Bud Polhill,

ward one councillor for the City

have profound effects on London’s
economy and the international
corridor to the United States.
“That’s why we have the
401—that’s why it goes through
London and Windsor, because
of all the traffic from the United
States,” Polhill explained. “You’ve
got a highway to go there, but the
train won’t.”
However, Canada’s lack of high
speed transit also makes a much
bigger statement about the nation,
Cunningham believed.
While Canada was once a leader
in transportation, with the TransCanada highway and Toronto’s
subway system, in recent years the
nation has fallen behind.
“Regular rail systems in Canada
are really not competitive with what
people who live in other countries
in the world enjoy,” Cunningham
said. “And that means they’re old,
they’re not always comfortable,
they’re slow and they don’t always
arrive on time.”
She compared Canada to Spain,

a nation which has constructed a
high speed rail system in only five
years, while on the other hand,
Canada has taken 25 years to simply study the subject.
“Now, we are the only G8 country that does not have fast speed
rail,” she said.
The study predicted that if built
by 2031, the rail system, with 10
million passengers, could generate
$1.2 to $1.3 billion annually for the
Canadian economy.
But that money would have
little effect on London’s local economy if the city continued to be left
off-track.
In the meantime, Polhill promised the City of London would continue to advocate on London’s behalf to be included in the plan.
“We as a council are going to
lobby and basically put our position forward very strongly that if
this rail system comes into play, we
want to be part of it,” he concluded.
“And we want to make sure there’s
a stop in the city of London.”

2•

thegazette • Thursday, October 20, 2011

Caught on Camera

Nyssa Kuwahara GAZETTE

GETTING WASTED OFF WATER. Students played water-pong in the University Community Centre atrium yesterday as part
of Enviro week, hosted by EnviroWestern

Crossword By Eugene Sheffer

News Briefs

Study examines
electoral dysfunction
A group of Canadian researchers
performed a study in relation to
Ontario’s Provincial Election where
voters had to vote using three different electoral systems: first past
the post, the alternative vote and
proportional representation.
Over 9,000 people voted using
the three electoral systems, with
different electoral systems resulting in different outcomes. Most
notable is the results for the Liberal Party. Under the FPTP system, which is Canada’s current
electoral system, the party received 47.5% of the votes. However, under the PR electoral system, where seats are distributed
approximately according to the
percentage of votes, the Liberal

Solution to puzzle on page 6

Party’s votes dropped to 39.4%.
“In our electoral system, it is
very clear it is only a race between
the top two candidates, because in
each riding only the one who gets
the most votes wins,” Laura Stephenson, a researcher involved in
the study, said. “So, if you prefer a
party which has no chance of winning, then you are stuck in an interesting situation because if you
cast a vote for the candidate you
prefer most of all, but they have no
chance of winning, then essentially
you know your vote will not count
towards the outcome.”
—Francis Siebert

No one wants to text
the police
Got a crime to report? Don’t text it.
Crime Stoppers for London, Elgin
and Middlesex has decided to
forgo the text-your-tip option that
Toronto adopted in 2008.
The goal of the texting option
allows tipsters to pass along information without being overheard.
Toronto was the first chapter to
bring texting into the crime-fighting arena and according to Darlene Ross of Toronto Crime Stoppers, the program was an overall
success.
“We do get quite a few tips. It is
up and running and has been running successfully for three years,”

she said. “However, it’s not as popular as we thought. We thought it
would become very popular, especially with youth.”
Ross also noted texted-tips
make up a very small portion of
total tips.
In an article by the London Free
Press, regional coordinator for London, Elgin and Middlesex Crime
Stoppers, Susan Ashley, cited a disconnect between the cost of the
program and the low number of
tips likely to be received by text.
Toronto is not the only city to
introduce a text-your-tip option.
In 2009, Windsor and Essex County
Crime Stoppers decided to follow
suit, however the project failed in
its first year. Despite much promotion, especially in high schools,
only six texts were received. None
of these texts turned into tips.
—Vincent Orsini

United Way wants
your money
At Western, there are many activities supporting the United Way.
To support the charity, the Western community has set a goal of
$650,000 to be donated by students
and staff.
The charity recently announced
this year’s total goal of $8.5 million. The fund will be used to help
solve the increasing need for service within London and Middlesex County due to the current economic situation.
“Need is greater than ever,” Barbara Patterson, associate director
of the campaign, said. “Western is
the top account of our donation
and also is one of the most important partners for the United Way as
well as our community. The fund
is important to people who need
help in the community—everyone
benefits from this.”
According to Patterson, events
such as Coffee Day and Pancake
Breakfast are arranged where Andrew Lockie, chief executive officer
of United Way and Western president Amit Chakma will help serve
coffee. Money raised will be donated to the fund.
Moreover, the faculty and staff
have more chances to donate
through payroll deductions. Early
bird prizes are available to Western
faculty and staff who fill in and return their United Way pledge forms
by November 11.
—Mengxi Li

The city of London goes to the dogs
City committee hopes to
improve animal welfare
Cheryl Madliger
Gazette Staff
While the City of London has been
vocal about its efforts to improve its
image, our fluffy friends might not
have heard about efforts to make
the city a more animal friendly
place to wag their tails.
The City’s Community and
Neighbourhoods
Committee
wants animal welfare to improve in
London. Their recommendations,
which included initiatives like increasing awareness regarding responsible pet ownership, coordinating community-based animal
welfare initiatives, and improving
facilities for fostering and adoption
of stray animals, were presented at
Tuesday’s council meeting.
Jay Stanford, director of environmental programs and solid
waste, made the presentation and
said the report had been a long
time coming.
The City’s contract with the
London Animal Care Centre—
London’s open admission shelter
whose doors are open to any stray
animal—expires in December
2012, posing a great opportunity.
“This is the opportunity to add
change. It’s very encouraging that
the city is looking at animal welfare,” Kent Lattanzio, director of
operations at the LACC, said.
Matt Brown, ward seven councillor, says the issues in London are

common across North America.
“The same discussions are occurring in many municipalities.
There are too many pets without
homes, which results in too many
stray pets being euthanized,” he
said.
The City is using other animal
friendly cities as models.
“Over a 15-year period, Calgary
has evolved into a full service program that focuses on responsible
pet ownership and has achieved
very good licensing rates for cats
and dogs, high claim rates for dogs,
and very good adoption rates,”
Brown said. “Responsible pet ownership needs to be a high priority.
We also need a greater focus on
cats in London.”
Lattanzio echoed this concern.
“You can’t give away cats quick
enough, even when they’re spayed
or neutered,” he said, explaining
that even when adoption fees are
waived and spaying and neutering,
deworming, and first vaccinations
are included free of charge with an
adoption, there are still too many
homeless cats.
“You can’t adopt your way out of
this issue,” Lattanzio said.
Rather than moving to a “no
kill” policy, the city is aiming for
“no homeless animals” instead.
“[The City] has researched “no
kill” and they would rather call
London a “no more homeless pets”
community because they recog-

Nyssa Kuwaharaz Gazette

nize that euthanasia is a part of
sheltering,” Lattanzio said.
Proponents say prevention is
key.
“The best program that could
be put in place to have an impact
on the number of cats coming into
the shelter is for the city to have an
aggressive, low cost spay neuter
program,“ Lattanzio said.
Though issues at shelters largely
concern cats, the city could be

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visit,” she explained.
Though December 2012 marks
the new contract with the LACC,
Brown says animal lovers in London may see change sooner.
“There are many improvements
being made now. Municipal Council has directed staff to make ongoing improvements to help the
animals.”

home

helpful

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information

friendlier for dogs.
Michelle Harvey, a London resident who fosters shelter puppies,
said the city should improve their
leash-free parks, another concern
expressed in the report.
“Other cities encourage people
to bring their dogs to parks. The
three [off-leash] parks that we do
have do not have access to running
water, which means dog owners
have to bring water each time they

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UWindsor Fall Open House
Friday, November 4, 2011, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Discover our great programs and scholarships, talk with profs, explore
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Be sure to visit our new state-of-the-art Centre for Engineering Innovation.
Sign up at www.uwindsor.ca/openhouse
or phone 1.800.864.2860 or 519.973.7014
*Enjoy a complimentary lunch with valid high school ID.

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11-09-23 2:28 PM

4•

thegazette • Thursday, October 20, 2011

Opinions

I don’t see gender as the most significant fact of human existence.

—Jim Harrison

>> ACCESSIBILITY ON CAMPUS

Gender
neutrality
on campus
Gender-neutral bathrooms were supposed to be
created on campus, with 70 single-stall washrooms
to be converted over time.
Progress is slow on these conversions, which brings
up the question of the importance of gender-neutral
bathrooms and the importance of gender in general.
Bathrooms are divided right now to maximize space
and resources—a collection of stalls and/or urinals is
more efficient than several separate rooms.
Right now, the majority of people seem to agree
that segregated washrooms are necessary, but how
prominent is this gender dichotomy elsewhere in our
society? Although it may be less extreme than it used
to be, we still raise our children with assumptions
about what their interests will be. If you get a happy
meal, you still have to either choose the “girl toy” or
the “boy toy.”
Abolishing gendered bathrooms, at least at
Western, isn’t going to happen without major
construction, which will probably involve creating
many more single-stalled bathrooms. Although a
co-ed bathroom could work, the idea would likely be
met with a lot of North American backlash.
Although catering to the minority is often
expensive, historically progressive societies do tend
to recognize when some of its members are being
significantly wronged, taking it upon themselves to
radically alter the way they operate.
Right now, we tend to have to identify our gender,
even if what we’re doing is independent of sex. As a
society, should we be looking at how prominent this
binary is? Males have to pay more for insurance based
on statistics, and intramural sports are divided by
gender. Although there have been efforts to eliminate
bias from society, there are still some instances of
gender discrimination that remain unchanged. There
is however a grey area where it might be difficult
to determine where the line should be drawn. The
Olympics would probably still have to be divided, for
example, between male and female, but that could be
more so to do with biological differences.
As of right now, there is a major gender rift in our
society, and this will probably linger on throughout
our lifetimes. We are looking into eliminating these
issues, even if it’s slowly, and the introduction of
gender-neutral bathrooms, if done efficiently, could
be a good start.
—The Gazette Editorial Board

Rape not a laughing matter
Like a
Rolling
Stone
Cheryl Stone
News Features Editor
Whenever I leave an exam there’s always one person who feels the need to
scream, “that exam just raped me!”
Excuse me, but your last exam didn’t
rape you—it probably didn’t even come
close.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, rape or sexual assault is defined
as the crime of forcing another person
to have sexual intercourse against their
will.
Therefore, sexual assault is any sort
of unwanted sexual act forced on an
individual. Last time I checked, exams
asked you questions, sometimes they
might even ask you tough questions,
but they definitely didn’t force you to
have sex against your will.
When you compare a tough exam to

rape, it unjustly equates the exam with
a traumatic experience that victims or
rape of sexual assault have faced. This
presents a problem that is prevalent in
our society.
When people toss around the word
“rape” so casually, it shows they think
sexual assault isn’t important or even
worse that it’s a joke.
And it’s not only after exams that
student’s feel the need to use the word.
Often in sport you hear the people suggest that an opponent was “raped,” or
in the middle of a fake fight, the word
“rape” is yelled and hilarity ensues. It’s
a sad truth that some students seem to
act like rape is an everyday occurrence
with no bearing on victims’ lives.
Are we supposed to expect victims
of rape to laugh at these terrible experiences because some people think it’s
funny to call rape on someone? There is
nothing funny about the act of rape or
sexual assault and the statistics around
it prove it.
The Sexual Assault Centre of London estimates 51 per cent of Canadian
women have been victims of sexual assault and according to Statistics Canada

only six per cent of sexual assaults are
ever reported.
It’s a serious issue reflected in the
attitudes of our society that everything
from a videogame to an exam can “rape”
someone, yet when an actual sexual assault happens people don’t feel comfortable going to the authorities.
Not only do survivors not feel comfortable about reporting the incident to
the authorities, they may not even feel
comfortable getting any kind of help or
counselling. After all, why should a victim get help for something when their
peers clearly think it’s a joke.
Of course, it’s not. It’s a serious issue
and there are a lot of services that are
available to victims of rape. SACL offers
a 24-hour crisis lines, public education
and prevention strategies, along with
referrals, counselling and advocacy assistance to survivors of rape.
Society needs to stop trivializing the
experience of sexual assault. Victims
need support and to feel safe going to
the police, not to feel as if what happened to them is just a joke.

thought, and inquiry. It wants shiny
brands to be consumed passively—so
we need a shinier brand.
If that is not reason enough to rebrand, vice-president external for Western Kevin Goldthorp points out that
the administration’s corporate communications are terribly confusing with
the current logo because the logo only
says “Western,” but the school’s name
is “The University of Western Ontario.”
He’s right—how is anyone without a
PhD supposed to make sense of this—
we need a change.
Like any well-run corporation, Western must ensure that only the finest

advice is sought in making such important decisions. I have to assume that the
administration has hired the Torontobased design firm Hahn Smith because
there are no creative people at Western
capable of “retooling the University’s
visual identity,” an incredibly difficult
and crucial task.
I would like to recommend that
the administration concern itself with
more important issues and, if it is shiny
enough, recognize Western’s Coat of
Arms as the school’s official logo.
—Aaron Codner

Letter to the Editor

New logo a waste of time
To the Editor:
As Western continues its transformation from an academic institution into
a corporate pawn, it is not surprising
that the administration is paying close
attention to really important things like
the school’s logo and accompanying
brand.
Of course the brand is important, it is
the facade that masks the internal conflicts and those practices detrimental
to the public interest. The bureaucratic
society of controlled consumption
does not want education, academics,

The Gazette is owned and published by the
University Students’ Council.

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board
and are written by a member of the editorial board but are
not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial
board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the
author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the
USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff.
To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on
“Contact.”
All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations
and cartoons published in The Gazette, both in the
newspaper and online versions, are the property of The
Gazette. By submitting any such material to The Gazette
for publication, you grant to The Gazette a non-exclusive,
world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to publish
such material in perpetuity in any media, including but not
limited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.

thespianthursday
“All human wisdom is contained in these two words—wait and
hope.”

—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Matthew Good still has a lot to say
Jennifer Tammy
Contributor
Matthew Good has remained remarkably humble after 20 years
in the spotlight, but he still seems
to have the casual confidence
that garnered so much attention
for him when he first debuted. He
has learned from the creative and
collaborative missteps of his past
and is moving forward without
hesitation.
You used to post short fiction on
your website, and then you published your book of short stories
At Last There Is Nothing Left to Say
in 2001. Do you have any writing
projects in the works?
No, not really. To be honest with
you, that was kind of one of those
things that you look back on and
go, ‘Eh, that was probably a mistake.’ There was a lot of youthful exuberance going on there—
it’s not something I look back at
and say, ‘yeah, I’m proud of that.’
It was basically a whole bunch of
stories thrown together and put
into a book because at the time my
management thought it would be a
good idea.
Most of your website posts are
about politics, not music. Do you
feel responsible to use your notoriety as a platform for activism, or
is there another motivation there?
No, I do it for myself. It’s really
just a cathartic process of self-cataloguing things. It’s kind of like having a journal. Sometimes you throw
the journal out—I’ve discontinued
it in the past, didn’t bring the archives back. It’s just my thoughts
in general at the time about certain
things that go on that I happen to
know things about.
What is the creative relationship
between you and your band now?

I think as an artist you
reach to attain certain
goals in your career,
but I think that those
goals are always sidelined by the fact that
you have new and different goals after that.
—Matthew Good

Are they basically employees or
is there a form of collaboration
happening?
That’s always been the case
since I’ve been a solo artist. I hire
musicians. I was in a band, a highly
dysfunctional one, [which] was
very poisonous and this tour for
me is very cathartic in the fact that
Ian Brown’s playing drums for me.
He was in the Matthew Good Band
and him just coming in and being
a drummer, not being a member
of a band, has been really good for
both of us. Ten years was too long
not to talk. So, having him back
there is really awesome and he still
remains one of the most talented
drummers I’ve ever played with.
I’ve played with a lot of people in
my life, but I’ve only played with
one guy sitting behind the kit with
a crowd of 76,000 people and that’s
him.
Do you feel like you can now
be considered a “successful”
musician?
I don’t know, I think as an artist
you reach to attain certain goals in
your career but I think that those
goals are always sidelined by the

Courtesy of Hype Music

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL. Matthew Good prepares to play Centennial Hall tonight. Over his twenty-year career, the writer/
musician has learned much from his creative experiences.

fact that you have new and different goals after that. So, I think that
what you accomplish artistically is
a snapshot of a place in time and
you go from there. That’s what creativity is.
Do you have any advice for young
musicians?
I’m the last person who will be
giving advice about this business.

I came up at a time that was drastically different than now. When
I was in my twenties, we started
out playing local shows and if you
didn’t jump in the van and go and
play a show just in the next town,
you go to Halifax and back, numerous, numerous times. [You eat] 7-11
hot dogs at two in the morning. You
pay for it big time, you know, with
your sanity and with your personal

relationships and the whole thing,
and that’s not something a lot of
people do anymore. A lot of bands
it’s just like, “bam!” and they’re in a
tour bus.
Matthew Good plays Centennial Hall tonight to support his
latest album, Lights of Endangered
Species.

All for one, and none for Musketeers
Nathan Tebokkel
Contributor

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Mila
Jovovich

file photo

Paul Anderson, director of such
darkly violent films as the four
Resident Evil movies and Alien vs.
Predator, lends his eye for striking
scenes, skill for odd-angled camera
work and talent for quick-cut edits
to this teen-oriented action flick.
The Three Musketeers is a film
with little going for it other than a
handful of excellent sword fighting scenes, which see the three
washed-up musketeers, Athos
(Matthew Macfayden), Aramis
(Luke Evans) and Porthos (Ray
Stevenson), along with their cocky
young counterpart d’Artagnan
(Logan Lerman), swashbuckling
against overwhelming odds. They
repeatedly defeat the smug and
appropriately black-clad minions
of Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher

Waltz), led by eye-patched master swordsman Rochefort (Mads
Mikkelsen).
The plot, which is the only other
redeeming feature, initially unfolds
as an expected and boring actionmovie—fight the innumerable bad
guys and get the blonde-haired
beauty—but grudgingly, and after
prolonged boredom, shirks these
stereotypes and coils into a tense
and winding drama.
Supported by sparse, weak dialogue and stereotypical characters,
the plot stands second to sword
fighting as reason to see the movie.
The special effects, including ridiculous flying ships, also border mediocrity. They are often over-done
and even awkward at some points,
as when a staircase opening into
an underground vault appears
one-dimensional and an underwater explosion is obvious computer
simulation.
The characters are simple and
often tedious, spearheaded by the
betrayed angst of Athos, the youthful pride of d’Artagnan and the

predictable strong femininity of
Milady de Winter (Mila Jovovich).
Many aspects of the characters are clichéd. The humourous characters—King Louis XIII
(Freddie Fox) and Planchet (James
Corden)—are sometimes situationally funny but tend to verge on
annoying, and the characters with
the most potential—Aramis and
Porthos—barely play a supporting
role. The simplicity of the characters may be a boon, however, because sharp dialogue and detailed
development certainly do not distract from the adrenaline-filled
sword fighting scenes.
Unfortunately, the movie was
produced in 3D. This gimmick is
ineffective, almost never noticeable, and during the movie’s most
crucial moments is nonexistent.
Is The Three Musketeers worth
watching? If you like sword fighting and excessive corset-induced
cleavage, or if you’re under the age
of 16, yes—but not in theaters.

6•

thegazette • Thursday, October 20, 2011

Royal Wood sneaks up on London
Sumedha Arya
Gazette Staff
Named iTunes songwriter of the
year 2010, Canadian artist Royal
Wood has been receiving critical
acclaim. In the midst of his Canadian tour, Wood took some time to
discuss his “Sneak Peak” tour, his
song writing and how his music
has progressed over the last few
years.
How has your “Sneak Peek” tour
with Danielle Duval been so far?
It’s been far greater than expected. I wasn’t sure how the idea
would go because it’s a tour before the record’s actually out. The
audience obviously wouldn’t have
heard a bunch of [the new songs]
and we weren’t sure if that was a
concept people would jump on to.
But the turnout’s been amazing.
The feedback for the new material
has been positive.
Courtesy of Ivan Otis

Your song “A Mirror Without” was
featured on Grey’s Anatomy. How
have you been dealing with the increased attention?
[Making music] is all I’ve ever
wanted to [do]. Some kids grab a
hockey stick. I wanted to play the
piano at a really young age and
everything else kind of happened
along the journey. Making music
has always brought the greatest
joy in my life. Just the fact that I
get to call this a career—I’m very
fortunate.
Do you feel that your musical style
has changed from The Milkweed
EP to The Waiting?
Oh yeah, most definitely. It’s
been a pretty exciting journey thus
far, and musically it just evolved.

On Disc

I’ve gained more confidence and
[have] had more experiences that
found their way into my artwork.
Have you had musical aspirations
for a very long time?
I’ve had that question before because I ended up going to university
for business at McGill. The question always seems to be “Why did
you go for business if you wanted
to do music?” There was parental
pressure. My parents wanted to
make sure that I experienced university but also had something to
fall back on. But making my own
music interested me.
Did you find it difficult to balance
your musical endeavours with
your classes at McGill?
No, I didn’t, actually. I realized
that as long as you put the effort
in, you could succeed in school.
For me, education continued even
after I left [university]. I’m curious
about life. I’m fascinated by life
and I’m always learning, I’m always
reading and I’m always watching
things that I find interesting. That’s
the best education.
How has working with Pierre
Marchand [producer for Sarah
McLachlan] been?
He’s been amazing. He [produced] a few songs off The Waiting. He is a veteran and almost like
a pillar in the musical community.
He’s succeeded in ways that most
producers couldn’t dream of. I’m
going back to [his studio] this November to make a new record.
Royal Wood play in London on
October 23 at the Forest City Community Church. Doors open at 6
p.m. and advance tickets are $22.

Sunparlour Player
Us Little Devils
Outside Music (Canada)
Us Little Devils has been described
as Sunparlour Players stretching
out from the confines of folk and
rock and embracing electronic and
pop influences. With that said, the
band keeps to their roots, with a
focus on acoustic instruments.
“Runner” opens the album with
a little electronic intro leading into
a folk style, whereas “Red Bloody
Red of Home” is a fast heavy hitter, with Penner howling like a dog.
“One For You and One For Me”
and “Once Before” are some of the
softer songs on the album, with
soothing banjo and lyrics. “Damn
All You” is another simple song
with Penner wailing mournfully on
the vocals.
The album’s only downside is
it’s only 36 minutes long. However,
with the multitude of instruments
and sounds in each song, the driving beats, howling vocals and sorrowful banjo, Us Little Devils is an
album for anyone into folk music.
—Jared MacAdam

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Lindsay Danielle Arnold Gazette

•7

thegazette • Thursday, October 20, 2011

Sports

gameday
The Mustangs softball team will be competing in the Ontario
University Championships this weekend. The men’s hockey team
will hit the road and face off against Harvard in exhibition action.

Rundown >> For the second consecutive week the Mustangs men’s football team took the top spot in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport rankings > Having defeated the
University of Toronto Varsity Blues by a score of 21-9, the Mustangs clinched the Ontario University Athletics top seed and a bye through the quarterfinals.

Inexperience plagues Mustangs in exhibition
American opponents use size to dominate men’s basketball team
Megan Mcphaden
Gazette Staff
Taking on an opponent from south
of the border, Tuesday night’s basketball exhibition game proved
that this young Mustangs squad
has a lot to learn.
Held at Alumni Hall, the Mustangs welcomed visiting Wittenberg University hailing from
Springfield, Ohio. With mixed results against other teams from
Canadian Interuniversity Sport,
the Wittenberg Tigers looked to
take advantage of the Mustangs’
inexperience.
Dominated to the tune of 8351, the young Mustangs squad will
use this as a chance to improve and
gain experience.
“The loss of veteran players has
certainly had a great effect on the
team in terms of leadership and
playing, we’re going to continue
to work our plan and mature the
players, we need to be more mentally prepared collectively as a
team,” Brad Campbell, Mustangs
head coach, said.
The Mustangs are going to have
a difficult upcoming season. Making up for the loss of key players—
particularly Andrew Wedemire
who has signed a contract with
the Glasgow Rocks, Scotland’s only
professional basketball team—will
be instrumental to the Mustangs’

Jamie Yeung Gazette

success.
The exhibition games help
them prepare for what could be a
steep learning curve throughout

the season. Despite the loss to Wittenberg, the opportunity to play
high calibre NCAA teams and learn
from their style of play has been

beneficial to the Mustangs.
Wittenberg Tigers head coach
Bill Brown, a veteran who has been
coaching the Tigers for many years,

fundraised so that their team could
have this opportunity. The Tigers
played with discipline and capitalized on the many turnovers the
Mustangs gave up.
“This is our first experience
playing in Canada, the 24 second
shot clock definitely changed the
play of the game, we had to increase the pace of our offence and
it really put the pressure on the defence,” Brown said.
In terms of physicality, the Tigers had the upper hand, with
three starters averaging 6 feet 5
inches. An intimidating presence
on the hardwood, the Tigers dominated the Mustangs with a bruising
style of play that differed greatly
from what they saw from the Canadian teams.
“It took us a couple of games
but we had to adjust to the higher
tempo and we had more success,”
Alex Brandt, Tigers captain, said.
“It’s nice to play here with an audience and the facilities coming
from a smaller school, although
I do prefer the longer time in the
American game with the 35 second
shot clock—it’s a slower game with
more time to have the ball inside.”
The Mustangs look forward to
maturing as a team, with a tournament this weekend at Laurentian
University providing much needed
experience for the young squad.

Earn While You Learn

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School of Business Co-op MBA program – Canada’s Premier Co-op MBA.
To learn more, come visit us at your Graduate School Fair on October 27.

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Naira Ahmed Gazette

8•

thegazette • Thursday, October 20, 2011

Will the Flyers “Bryz” through the season?
The
Sin Bin
Jason Sinukoff
Sports Editor
It’s been two years since the Philadelphia Flyers’ miracle run to the
Stanley Cup finals. The Flyers’ success was mostly due to backup
goaltender Michael Leighton’s superb play.
A year later, Leighton showed
why he was never more than a
backup goaltender as rookie Sergei Bobrovsky got the start. Bobrovsky had an excellent rookie
campaign as he went 28-13-8 in 54
games played. He had a 2.59 goals
against average and a 0.915 save
percentage.
It looked like the Flyers found
their savior, but in the playoffs Bobrovsky showed he couldn’t handle
the pressure and the Flyers had to
cycle their three goalies time and
time again before being swept by
the eventual Stanley Cup champi-

ons, the Boston Bruins.
However, this past off-season,
Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren did what most thought was
unthinkable. He traded two of his
top four scorers, Jeff Carter and
captain Mike Richards. The trades
freed up some cash allowing the
Flyers to make a move that many,
including myself, have been anticipating for a while. With the abundant cap room, the Flyers were
able to lock up star goaltender Ilya
Bryzgalov to a long-term, nine-year
contract, worth $51 million.
Bryzgalov started out as a
backup goalie for J.S. Giguere for
the Anaheim Ducks. After proving his worth in Anaheim, Bryzgalov went to the Phoenix Coyotes.
It seems that a change of scenery
was all Bryzgalov needed to break
out of his shell, as he went 42-20-6
and 36-20-10 in the 2009-10 and
2010-11 seasons respectively. The
Flyers then traded for the rights
to Bryzgalov’s contract before the
start of free agency. The trade saw
prospect Matt Clackson and a 2012
third round pick going to Phoenix
in exchange for negotiating rights
to Bryzgalov’s contract.

Another new acquisition that
the Flyers traded for, Wayne Simmonds, is all too familiar with facing off against Ilya Bryzgalov. Simmonds played for the Los Angeles
Kings before being dealt to the
Flyers in the trade that saw Flyers
captain Mike Richards going to the
Kings for Simmonds and prospect
Brayden Schenn. As the Kings are
in the same division as the Coyotes, Simmonds is all too familiar
with facing Bryzgalov.
“I’ve played against Bryz for the
last few years when he was on the
Coyotes and he was lights out for
them,” Simmonds said in an interview at the pre-season game at the
John Labatt Centre. “He’s an unbelievable goaltender and I’m just
happy to be playing with him.”
Though many would disagree, I
think Holmgren made all the right
moves. He may have traded away
two of his star forwards, but in return he got two top prospects in
Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier, great role players in Wayne
Simmonds and Jakub Voracek and
the star goalie the Flyers have been
in dire need of since Ron Hextall.
file photo